from the San Jose Mercury News

Horse tied up, sexually assaulted in Felton

By Cathy Kelly

A Felton woman says her horse was sexually assaulted Monday evening in a pasture near Graham Hill and Mount Hermon roads, according to Santa Cruz County Animal Services.

The horse’s owner told Animal Services that she spotted a man on top of her horse. She said the man ran into the woods when he saw her coming, according to Lynn Miller, the agency’s interim manager.

“It’s very bizarre behavior and very alarming to have someone doing this and you wonder, where next and who next,” Miller said.

The California Penal Code outlines a specific, misdemeanor crime for sexually assaulting an animal, Miller said.

It is very rare that the agency gets reports of such crime, he said.

In Monday’s case, the horse’s owner said she could not initially find her horse when she went to the pasture and began calling out to her, Miller said.

The horse whinnied back and the woman followed the sound and then saw her in another area of the pasture, tied to a redwood tree, he said.

She saw the man pulling up his pants and yelled out and he took off into the woods.

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